“Ah…” A dry groan came from behind the curtain, presumably from the owner of the hand.

Generally speaking, if the protagonist in a horror movie encountered this situation, they would likely scream in terror and collapse to the ground.

But Feng Bujue was very calm; his reasoning never stopped…

“Left hand, obvious wrinkles on the back, dry and thick nails, looks like an old person’s hand, but the grip is amazing. The subcutaneous veins are protruding, and there are many puncture marks near the veins, indicating frequent infusions. The skin is abnormally white and gives off a smell of formaldehyde; it can accurately grab my wrist through the curtain, which is no coincidence…”

Jue-ge’s eyes darted around as his mind raced.

At that moment, three plans instantly formed in his mind: First, grab the folding knife and stab him; second, twist his hand back, pull him out, and follow up with an over-the-shoulder throw; third, pull back the curtain and take a look…

Considering that his current combat power is no different from ordinary people… Feng Bujue finally chose a more secure method. So, he stretched out his other hand (still holding the knife in his palm), pinched the long curtain beside the bed with his index finger and thumb, and pulled it horizontally.

Sizzle…

The plastic rings at the top of the curtain rubbed against the iron bar, making a strange sizzling sound.

The person in the bed quickly appeared before Feng Bujue’s eyes…

Overall, it was an old man who looked like a mummy. He lay face up on the bed, wearing a light blue hospital gown, with a pale complexion and a stiff body.

At first glance, Jue-ge understood that this person was probably not “alive.” Because the old man’s body was covered with hundreds of IV tubes…

The ends of those tubes were all connected to the wall above the head of the bed, and black liquid flowed in the tubes. The needles at the front ends of the IV tubes were all inserted into the old man’s skin at a ninety-degree angle, almost covering his entire body. The needles were inserted into places such as the forehead, neck, torso (through the clothes), soles of the feet, etc. It would be fine if the tubes were inserted into these places, but the most astonishing thing was… even his two eyeballs had IV tubes inserted into them… It was truly “painful just to look at.”

“Ugh…” The old man, still gripping Jue-ge’s wrist, slowly turned his head. Although his two eyeballs had needles stuck in them, he still “looked” at Jue-ge and said with difficulty, “So thirsty… I’m so thirsty…”

“Old man,” Feng Bujue said earnestly, “‘If you can take medicine, don’t get a shot; if you can get a shot, don’t get an IV.’ How many times has the World Health Organization emphasized this…”

“So thirsty…” The old man ignored him and continued to recite his lines.

Feng Bujue sighed and, following the routine of an NPC, continued, “Okay… Shall I get you some water?”

“I want… ice-cold beer…” the old man replied.

“Old man, have you heard the saying ‘Work hard, but take care of your liver’?” Feng Bujue said. “Is it appropriate for you to drink alcoholic beverages in your condition?” He looked up at the wall above the head of the bed. “By the way… what exactly is flowing into your body from the wall? Oil or cola?”

“Dr. Pepper…” the old man replied.

“That really is rough,” Feng Bujue muttered, his mouth twitching.

“I want… ice-cold beer…” the old man repeated again.

“Okay, okay… I understand…” During the conversation, Feng Bujue was constantly trying to pull the other person’s hand away, but to no avail. Therefore, he could basically judge that this was a side quest that had to be accepted once triggered. “I’ll go get it for you now.”

“Thank… thank you…” As soon as the old man heard these words, he released Jue-ge’s wrist.

At the same time, a system prompt appeared: 【Side Quest Triggered】

A new instruction was added to the taskbar: 【Purchase a bottle of ice-cold beer from the vending machine in the restaurant lobby and bring it to Mr. Harper in Room 216.】

“Oh, so you’re Mr. Harper…” Feng Bujue looked at the game menu and said to the old man, “Could you also tell me how to get to the restaurant?”

“So thirsty… so thirsty…” Harper ignored Jue-ge’s question and continued to moan softly to himself.

“Hmm… very good.” Feng Bujue shook his wrist, which had been gripped until it was sore, shrugged and muttered, “No hints at all, how freaking interesting.”

Although he was forced to accept the side quest, Feng Bujue was still hesitant about whether to complete it.

“Theoretically, if I stay in this room until dawn, wouldn’t I clear the level…” Feng Bujue thought. “But judging from the nature of this script, it probably won’t allow me to stay in the same place for too long. Lingering in the corridor for too long will attract Chad, so lingering in the ward for too long may attract something else…”

Thinking of this, he had already walked to the second bed, next to Mr. Harper’s.

This time, Feng Bujue simply and decisively pulled open the curtains. But this bed was empty.

“Hmph… Do you think I’d fall for that?” Jue-ge sneered and took out his sunglasses.

In the next five minutes, he used the sunglasses perspective and his naked eyes to carefully examine the entire bed, up and down, left and right, every nook and cranny. He turned the sheets over and over, touched them, smelled them, and was only one step away from putting them in his mouth to taste them… After doing all this, he still didn’t give up and even used a folding knife to tap on the bed frame to see if there were any keys hidden inside.

Finally, after all this trouble and spending a lot of energy, he was finally 100% sure… that this was just an empty bed serving as a scene decoration.

“Okay, next.” Jue-ge didn’t seem to care. Even if he was doing useless work, he looked like he was enjoying it.

“Hey, I say, buddy.” Just as Feng Bujue was about to walk to the third bed, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him, sounding like a middle-aged man’s voice. “I’m over here, behind you.”

Feng Bujue turned around upon hearing this and looked in the direction of the voice. The voice came from the middle bed on the other side of the room. That bed was also surrounded by curtains.

“Are you calling me?” Jue-ge asked tentatively.

“That’s right.” The voice replied. “Can you come over here for a moment?”

“Sure.” Feng Bujue said, tiptoeing over. When he got close enough, he suddenly reached out, quickly pulled open the curtains in front of the bed, and retreated backwards like lightning.

“What are you doing?” The middle-aged uncle sitting on the bed looked at Jue-ge and muttered, his eyes seemed to be saying, “Is this kid sick?”

Feng Bujue sized the other person up and down and immediately asked, “Uh… are you a vampire?”

He asked this because the other person’s features were quite obvious. His face was basically identical to the classic vampire image in Disney cartoons. White face, red lips, slicked-back hair, fangs, a thin face, and a cold temperament. If this guy were wearing a suit instead of a hospital gown, Jue-ge wouldn’t even have asked…

“Hey, kid, isn’t it rude to ask that?” The vampire uncle replied. “Are you a racist?”

“No, no… never mind I said anything.” Feng Bujue quickly waved his hands and shook his head.

“My name is Richard Sutherland. You can call me Count,” the Count said.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense.” Another rather sharp voice rang out from the bed to the Count’s right, which was the bed directly opposite Mr. Harper’s. “He’s not a Count at all.”

“Shut up! You drunkard!” The Count shouted to the side.

The voice that was called a “drunkard” retorted, “Counts have castles! Do you have one?”

“That’s nonsense!” The Count retorted. “Who says?”

“That’s just how it is!” The drunkard replied.

While the two of them were arguing, Feng Bujue had moved a few steps to the side and pulled open the curtain next to the “drunkard’s” bed.

Sitting on the bed was a green-skinned, extremely short creature, with a pointed nose, pointed ears, big eyes, and a big mouth. Without a doubt… he was a goblin. And at this time, he was also wearing a hospital gown.

“What are you doing? Don’t you know you should respect people’s privacy?” After the curtain was pulled open, the goblin shouted at Feng Bujue.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t expect someone who eavesdrops and joins other people’s conversations without permission to actually value privacy,” Feng Bujue rebutted with a strong point.

“Uh…” The goblin was immediately speechless.

“Haha…” The Count laughed. “Got you speechless! Victor, your day has come!”

“Oh… your name is Victor?” Feng Bujue asked, taking the opportunity to speak.

“It’s the great Victor Reidvokes!” Victor replied. “A household name in the trading world!”

“He just smuggles all kinds of alcohol and munitions,” the Count exposed him from the side.

“Shut up! You fake aristocrat!”

“Be quiet! You black-hearted profiteer!”

The two of them quickly started arguing again, each saying a word.

Feng Bujue sighed, watched for a while, and waited until the frequency of the two people’s speech slowed down a little before interjecting to the Count, “So… what exactly did you want me to come over for?”

“Oh, right, right.” The Count turned his head and replied, “You’re going to get beer for Harper, right? I want you to get me some blood plasma from the blood bank while you’re at it. B type is best. Not much, two bags will do.”

“Huh?” Feng Bujue replied weakly. “If you want to suck blood… isn’t there a ready-made goblin right next to you?”

“Hey!” Victor immediately shouted in dissatisfaction.

“Too barbaric. Sucking blood directly from living creatures is simply animalistic behavior.” The Count looked at Jue-ge with a puzzled expression. “Young man, have you watched too many violent movies?”

“Heh… heh heh…” Feng Bujue chuckled dryly, his mouth twitching. “In a sense, your answer has reassured me a lot.”

“Oh! Right, if you’re going to the blood bank, please bring something back for me, too,” Victor said at this time. “Yesterday, I lost a key. I think I lost it in the pediatric emergency room on the first floor. If you can help me find it, I can give you a generous reward!”

“No problem!” Feng Bujue agreed in one breath. The most important part of everything Victor said was undoubtedly those last five words…

“I won’t let you make the trip for nothing,” the Count said. “If you bring the blood to me, I’ll give you something in exchange.”

“Okay, sounds good.” Feng Bujue had figured it out at this point. Since he had to go out anyway, he might as well take on more tasks at once and collect everything before coming back.

【Side Quest Triggered】

So, the system prompt came, and two new tasks were added to Jue-ge’s taskbar.

【Obtain two bags of Type B blood plasma from the blood bank and bring them to Count Richard Sutherland in Room 216.】

【Find Victor’s key in the pediatric clinic on the 1st floor and return it to Victor Reidvokes in Room 216.】

“Finally… I have a question.” Feng Bujue looked at the two in front of him and asked, “I see that you two have all your limbs intact and aren’t restrained in any way. Why don’t you do this yourselves?”

“I have cirrhosis of the liver and shouldn’t move around,” Victor replied.

The Count’s reply was even more direct, just two words: “Anemia.”